ResourcesforEncouragingPersonalBibleStudy
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 720: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
July 1, 2022
There are complex reasons for the decline in biblical literacy among Christians. One of the
biggest challenges currently facing the Adventist Church is that few Adventists engage in any
regular Bible study (Greenwalt, 1996). The Bible is not meant to be a difficult book only catering
for the intellectually gifted. It has been written so that it reaches every age group, intellectual
ability and interest level (White, 1952). With the illumination of the Holy Spirit, all can properly
understand the Bible. “The simplest soul and the youngest child, if they are open to God, can
get as much as anyone else from reading the Bible” (Dewey, 2001). Consequently even the
youngest student needs the opportunity of experiencing this relationship with their Creator
through His written word. However, not everyone agrees with these observations and
comments. Recently the statement was made, during an Adventist church sermon that the
Bible was not written for children but that it was a book written for adults.
Another apparent reason for biblical illiteracy involves the perception that young adults
are discussing matters of spiritual warmth and meaningful relationships as an alternative to
engaging in biblical discussion and doctrinal analysis (Young, 2004). If this is occurring then the
Bible probably is not being discussed, studied or read regularly. Not surprisingly then, basic
information such as the names of Bible books and the number of books in the Old Testament
and the New Testament, are unfamiliar facts to some Avondale College pre-service elementary
teachers.
Brunt (1994) wrote that the younger generation find the Bible irrelevant and are becoming
biblically illiterate because they cannot see any connection between Bible study and their daily
life. This is a valid concern that needs addressing but Daniel (1999) warns that in our quest to
make the Bible relevant we need to be careful that we don’t replace Bible stories with
situational ethics. This quote is most pertinent:
Raisedinthechurchinanageofculturalrelativism,someenduplikeafootballplayerwho
graduatedfromhighschoolwithoutlearningtoread,sentintotheworldbiblicallyilliterate
(Daniel, 1999, 50).
Ironically, even though there is a proliferation of Bibles, fewer and fewer are being read
(Hutchens, 2001).
Some reasons listed for biblical illiteracy by young people include: (1) that they were raised
on sermons that used little scripture; (2) that a working knowledge of the Bible was not
important for them; and (3) that they had been raised devoid of any parental, religious training
(Burge, 1999; Daniel, 1999; Poe, 2004).
Biblical illiteracy may also be the result of an overemphasis on the process of justification
to the detriment of an understanding that the process of sanctification incorporates a
developing faith informed by Bible theology (Burge, 1999). The Bible needs to be central to all
our thinking and faith development (Knight, 2000; White, 1952).
ResourcesforEncouragingPersonalBibleStudy
However, a number of resources were discovered which do encourage personal Bible study
and devotions for children who are literate. One such resource is the following web site:
KingdomConstructionCompany. Designed especially for children in elementary school it
encourages children to develop a personal, independent daily Bible reading and prayer
program. This resource can be shared in an elementary school classroom to encourage children
who are independent readers to commence this habit while they are still young and
impressionable.
The Adventist GraceLinkstudy guides forKindergarten and Primary age groups also
mention using the Bible with young children. The GraceLink Kindergarten study guide includes A
LettertoParents that encourages parents to introduce their child to the Bible and then suggests
a suitable child’s version of the Bible along with activities that are appropriate for this stage of
development. At the Primary stage of development parents are encouraged to help their child
learn to use the Bible.
The third resource suggests age specific activities for encouraging Bible study with
children. As seven to nine year old children are starting to read more independently the authors
encourage the children to place tabs on the books of the Bible in order to facilitate finding the
books more easily (Dillon & Smith, 1997). This is a great idea to facilitate the location of the
books of the Bible, and hopefully by the time children are eight or nine, they have the skills to
read actual stories from their own Bible.
The fourth resource encouraged seven to eleven-year-old children to read the Bible “as a
faith-strengthening exercise” (Calkins, 1997). This is a sound practical idea but how is this skill
of Bible study to be implemented? How can we ensure it is more than just a reading exercise
and actually does become a “faith-strengthening exercise”?
The final example of available resources is a series of lessons for the under five-age group.
The lessons could be used as an introductory activity in the elementary classroom to provide
pre-biblical literacy experiences. The series includes a section of introductory activities that
introduce the Bible to the young children in a tangible way by touching it, hearing verses read
from it, looking inside the Bible, etc. (Gaukroger, 1996).
The following original biblical literacy strategies and techniques, designed by the writer,
have been created, produced and trialled in an attempt to support the Christian teacher in
his/her quest to encourage biblical literacy development in the elementary classroom. The first
strategy is for children aged five and six years and involves a fun way of interacting with and
learning from the Bible. It uses the simultaneous teaching of early biblical literacy skills along
side early language literacy skills. This method can become part of the daily Bible lesson
because it uses word recognition skills to read the Bible. The Bible can then become one of
their readers. The method is outlined below:
Firstly, students need access to their own copy of a large print version of the Bible and a
highlighter pen.
Then, the name of the current Bible character from the Bible lesson is identified.
Next, the teacher writes that particular Bible character’s name on the board and then
reads the Bible character’s name aloud so the child associates the sound of the Bible
character’s name with the Bible character’s written name. (Basically this is a word recognition
skill.)
Following this, the child opens his/her Bible to a stated page number and the child
identifies the Bible character’s name on that Bible page.
Finally, the child says the Bible name as he/she identifies and highlights it in his/her
Bible.
After repeating this procedure a few times over the next week the child should then be
able to independently identify and “read” this Bible character’s name.
It has been discovered that the children who are involved in these learning experiences
often choose to “read” their Bible during free time because the Bible has become an interesting
and accessible book for them.
